In the lead up to this game Head Coach Andy Pratt said he was puzzled by Canterbury’s strange lack of home form against the league’s leading clubs.

On their travels they have taken valuable points from most of the big guns but had nothing to show in front of the Merton Lane faithful.

This time the players gave their coach and supporters the perfect answer as they conquered both promotion-seeking Redruth and the testing conditions.

“We knew it was a big challenge but tactically we got it spot on,” said a delighted Pratt. “I definitely rate it as one of our best performances of the season.”

The rain and wind should have suited the Cornish side’s formidable pack of forwards. Instead it was the city club who took charge from the outset and after scoring a classy try in the first two minutes they stayed ahead for the rest of the match. .

A clean line break by centre David Devlin-Jones, finished off behind the posts by Kwaku Asiedu and converted by Scott Browne, gave Canterbury the perfect start. They went on to produce a show of intensity and skill which was never quite matched by Redruth.

Essentially, it was a triumph for a magnificent pack who carried and harried relentlessly, won many of the physical clashes and stuck to their game plan perfectly. While lock Tom Sherson got the nod as Man of the Match it could have been any one of a splendid eight.

It was their work which produced a second try as they disrupted a scrum close to the visitors line, swooped on the ball and prop Jim Green was driven over.

With almost 25 minutes gone Redruth, despite having the advantage of the wind, had failed to make any significant inroads against a solid defence. When they eventually got into right area, however, and exerted their first real pressure they did not pass up the opportunity.

The league’s leading try scorer, Tom Duncan, picked up at the back of an advancing scrum to open their account but Paul Thirlby’s conversion kick was wide.

Canterbury protected their narrow lead comfortably and struck an important early blow in the second half. Redruth found themselves under pressure from the restart and on 42 minutes some finger tip passing allowed Wim Baars to squeeze in at the left corner for a try which had to be confirmed by the assistant referee.

It was now, literally, an uphill battle for Redruth but as the game went into its final quarter they mounted a series of forward led attacks which stretched the home defence to breaking point. Wing Frazer Kellythorn appeared in mid-field to score behind the posts and Thirlby reduced the lead to five.

Canterbury took that set back in their stride, pushing the Cornwall men back with shrewd use of the boot and while the exchanges were often rugged a flare up, which saw visiting scrum half Greg Goodfellow and Canterbury’s Jesse Liston sent off, was an isolated case of indiscipline.

As limbs grew tired Canterbury proved the wisdom of picking an entire front row on the replacements bench, saw Browne sin binned but not before the fly half kicked a penalty goal which sealed the win.

One minor regret for a city side which finished well on top was the lack of a bonus point try which, with a little more composure, could have been theirs but they will savour this victory, with or without the extras.

Canterbury:M.Beaumont, K.Asiedu (repl A.Moss), J.Del Val, D.Devlin-Jones, M.Melford, S.Browne, N.Little (repl C.Tandy), J.Green (repl M.Livesey), S.Rogers (repl N.Wakefield), S.Goode (repl R.McLeod), B.Massey, T.Sherson, G. Micans, J.Liston, W.Baars.